I wonder if they do statistics on the emails that come in to get a general idea of the group sentiment.

I honestly think it depends on the Senator.

I've had a really good response from Senator Warnock who ended up sending a representative out to inspect housing filled with black mold and mildew on the military base I work on.

Not sure what actually came of it, but Warnock did do something at least.

To be fair, the same shit happens when you call them. Some intern answers and you don't even get the platitudes. You might just be a tally mark on a list if they feel like it.

I like emailing my senator/CP because it does create a paper trail. One day maybe I'll run against them and read all the emails I sent them, in public.

Enough phone calls will make a dent, though. I worked on Capitol Hill and every office is just a handful of young staffers manning the phones. So when we pissed people off, we really felt it. Those days were the worst. Couldn't do anything except answer the next ringing phone. You can definitely motivate action that way, but it takes a decent little group of people to be willing to make the calls.

An intern read it, after which they found the form letter written by the staffer who handles those issues and used that to reply to you. The communication will never reach the staffer, let alone the congressperson. If you’re lucky, the office won’t have an intern and the administrative assistant will be the one to do the above.

Yes, Douglas, vote for me.

I wouldn't call it entirely pointless. I'd describe it as one of the easiest ways to be involved with politics, along with voting. It's very low commitment, and a low level of escalation/results. I highly recommend doing some training on union organizing, even if you aren't interested in organizing a union. The tradeoff between commitment and escalation is very important when determining what actions to take in all forms of organizing, including political organizing

Also depends on state vs federal government. It's a lot easier to start making a change in your local government.

"Also, I have shared your email address and phone number with everyone I know, so enjoy the spam asking for donations to politicians who whole-heartedly support the issues you just told me you disagree with!"

Over a decade. It’s a massive infrastructure project. I’m not demanding to ride high speed rail in 2025, I’m demanding it to have started by then knowing full and well that the design portion will take several years for a rush job. Bridges aren’t quick either, nor are dams. But governments build them because they have to start sometime.

We needed to start this process 20 years ago. We desperately need to start now. At no point will we stop needing to start asap, it just will get more and more dire that we do.

If a local government can’t get a hundred yards of sidewalk paved when one of the leaders is pushing for it, how long would it take the federal government to build high speed rail?

Honolulu started planning theirs in the 1960's, finally got funding in 2005, started construction in 2011 (planned to finish in 2020), went over budget, changed plans to shorted the route, and finally opened the first stations a couple months ago. Their current estimate is that it wont be done until 2031. So to answer your question, it can take at least 26 years once you get funding.

https://www.hawaiibusiness.com/hart-history-hawaii-rail-project-when-finished-budget/

I'll share a different story then. Over the past several years, I've participated in a movement to get bus rapid transit lanes which is moving forward. I started as a citizen advocate, then represented the bus company (as an advocate) through several phases of studies, then led a community engagement team in which I personally talked to over a thousand local residents and gave more than a dozen presentations to the community and stakeholders. I've sparred with NIMBYs and congresspersons alike. And now the project is moving forward and will dedicate over a third of a major roadway exclusively to bus service.

Cynicism is crack for slacktivists and keyboard warriors.

That's part of the issue though...why are you thinking it's 100 yards of paving? They can't do it just in front of his house.

Which is why writing him letters won't help. It's not like we have an alternative we can vote for, and if we primary him then we're evil leftists who want Trump Toomey to win by nominating an unelectable candidate.

This is not why the older generation has more sway. Calling just means talking to an intern who will read you the boilerplate, and then mark down a for/against tally if you're lucky. Most of them don't even care about that since they're ideological motivated rather than caring what constituents think.

No. It’s because they reliably vote.

Unfortunately, calling isn't necessarily great either:

https://youtube.com/watch?v=v7CFo0XKLmo&si=4oKkWKpx0ainc09T

https://youtube.com/watch?v=xM9otKIeEY4&si=Hl4hcVxZ66qcJkmY

maybe you'll get a handwritten letter telling you to fuck off instead of an email saying the same thing?